I want you to imagine a military career. A young man so intent on serving the Union
during the Civil War that he lied about his age and enlisted at just the age of 16. A young man
who as a private, served in the center of the line, in the deadliest major battle of
the Civil War. A young man who over the course of the war rose in rank enlisted as a private,
and by the end of the war was a brevet major. A young man who through acts of exceptional heroism
was awarded not one, but two medals of Honor. The first soldier in the United States Army to
be so honored. You would think that such a soldier would be famous, might be one of the most famous
soldiers of the Civil War, and yet there was such a soldier and his name is barely remembered for a
very simple reason. It was overshadowed by the name of his much more famous older brother. And
that is too bad, because the military career of Thomas Ward Custer deserves to be remembered.
Emanuel Custer and Maria Ward Kirkpatrick from rural Ohio had seven children together but the
first two died in infancy. Thomas Custer born in 1845, was the third boy to survive infancy after
his older brother Nevin, born in 1842, and his oldest brother, George Armstrong Custer born in
1839. A younger brother, Boston, and a sister Margaret would be born later. George Custer,
who the family called Autie, over his first attempts to pronounce his middle name when
he was a toddler, was a charismatic, handsome and athletic boy, and he set his mind on a career in
the military. He secured an appointment to West Point and graduated as an officer in the US Army
in 1861, just a few months after the first shots of the Civil War. Well naturally the brothers,
who all looked up to George, who was the leader of the pack, all wanted to follow him
into the service. Nevin tried, he enlisted but he had an ill-timed bout of rheumatism and was
mustered out after only a couple of weeks. And Thomas, the next oldest, was just 16,
two years too young to sign up for the army. But that didn't stop him from trying. He tried. He
was refused due to his age. He tried again and lied about his age, and in September of 1861,
was mustered in as a private in Company H of the 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
The 21st Ohio was part of the 45,000 strong Union Army of the Cumberland under the
command of Major General William Rosecrans. In December 1862, they faced the Confederate Army
of Tennessee commanded by General Braxton Bragg in front of the Tennessee town of Murfreesboro,
along a freezing narrow waterway, on the Stones River. 17-year old Private Tom Custer and the
boys of the 21st Ohio were smack in the middle of the war. For three days Bragg threw his army
at Rosecrans. The Union lines were thrown back! They bent, but they did not break. In two massive
attacks Bragg was unable to dislodge Rosecrans. Realizing that Rosecrans would continue to get
reinforcements, Bragg withdrew. The battle was a tactical draw but the Union held the ground,
and the Confederacy lost the hope of controlling central Tennessee; a critical event in the
campaign in the West. Of the 76,400 soldiers who participated in the battle on both sides,
twenty four thousand six hundred and forty five were killed or wounded. It was, proportionally,
the highest casualty rate of any major battle of the Civil War. The 21st Ohio,
who captured an artillery battery in a counterattack, took 159 casualties.
After the Battle of Stones River Tom managed to secure a position as an orderly for a succession
of brigade and division commanders until he was eventually on the staff of General
Ulysses S. Grant and promoted to the rank of Corporal. It was in that role that he saw
some of the most vicious battles in the West, including Missionary Ridge and Chickamauga.
But in October of 1864, Autie, who was by then a brigadier general of cavalry,
managed to secure Tom a commission as a lieutenant in the 6th Michigan cavalry in a position as his
brother's aide-de-camp. The final phase of the US Civil War occurred in the spring of 1865,
when the forces of Ulysses S. Grant finally broke through Robert E. Lee's defense works and ended
the ten month siege of Petersburg. But Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia managed to escape,
and Lee realized that his only hope of continuing the war was to reach North Carolina and join
up with the Confederate Army there under the command of General Joseph Johnston. Grant knew
that if he could prevent Lee from getting to North Carolina, he could end the war.
The Appomattox Campaign was a series of running battles between Grant's advanced forces and Lee's
rear guard, and Custer's cavalry was in the thick of the fight. Time and again Thomas distinguished
himself in the chase. He was given brevet promotions. A brevet rank could mean a couple of
things, but in Tom Custer's case it meant awards, giving a commissioned officer a higher rank title
as a reward for gallantry or meritorious conduct, but without conferring the authority, precedence,
or pay of a real rank. Such promotions were common during the Civil War. Tom was a Brevet
Major by April. He had a horse shot out from under him at the Battle of Five Forks on April 1st.
On April 3rd Custer's cavalry engaged three regiments of Confederate cavalry
near a place called Namozine Church, it was part of Lee's rearguard, and in a short
sharp action between cavalry units Tom led the charge. He jumped over
a hastily built Confederate breastwork and there captured three Confederate officers,
11 Confederate soldiers, and the battle flag of the 2nd North Carolina cavalry.
For his gallant action that day, Tom Custer was awarded the Medal of Honor.
The decisive battle of the Appomattox Campaign came just three days later, on a hill in front
of a little creek that was called Sailors Creek. Grant had finally caught up to Lee,
and two of Lee's three Corps were forced to engage in the desperate action at the
Battle of Sailor's Creek. The Army of Northern Virginia was literally fighting for its very life,
and in the brutal combat, when the Union infantry could not force the Rebs to break,
that cavalry was ordered to charge. Tom Custer was the first cavalry man to get across the
second line of Confederate breastworks, where he grabbed a hold of yet another Confederate
battle flag! But the flag bearer drew his pistol and shot Tom Custer point-blank in the face!
So close that it caused powder burns! The bullet entered under his cheek, skinned along his skull,
and exited behind his right ear. And Tom Custer in one motion, still hanging on to the flag,
drew his pistol and killed the flag bearer. His face bleeding profusely, he triumphantly rode
back with the battle flag of the Second Virginia Reserve Battalion. He rode up to his brother and
proudly proclaimed, “Armstrong, the damned Rebs have shot me, but I got my flag.” He tried to
return to the fight! His brother had to have him forcibly restrained to be taken to the surgeons to
treat his wound. Astoundingly, Tom Custer had captured his second Confederate battle flag,
and earned his second Medal of Honor, in a period of just four days. He was the first
soldier in US history, and one of only a handful to receive two Medals of Honor.
The desperate brutal battle of Sailor's Creek was the death blow of the Confederacy. Lee lost
more than 8,000 soldiers, killed or wounded. Lee surrendered to Grant three days later.
After the war Tom Custer stayed in the army. He had the regular rank of lieutenant,
but the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel. Awfully good for someone who signed up as a private. He
followed his brother's career in the West in the Indian Wars, and was with his brother on the Black
Hills Expedition in 1874 that discovered gold. And he was with his brother on that fateful day,
June 25th of 1876, when the seventh Cavalry faced off against a force of Sioux and Cheyenne
warriors in what has become known as the Battle of the Little Bighorn. After the battle, Tom's
body was found a few feet away from that of his more famous brother. Nearby was the body of his
younger brother Boston. Also on the battlefield was the body of his brother-in-law James Calhoun,
husband of his sister Margaret, and the body of their nephew Henry Armstrong Reid who had
accompanied his uncle's expedition as a civilian, he was just 18 years old. That iconic battle was
a bad day for the Custer family. Tom's remains were removed to the Calvary Cemetery at Fort
Leavenworth Kansas, and the stone can still be seen there today. Thomas Custer was a
brilliant soldier but he lived his life in his brother's shadow. George Armstrong Custer was
a larger-than-life personality, and a bold and gifted commander of cavalry. But in 1865 when
he was asked about his brother, in a moment of honesty he said, “Do you want to know what I
think of him? Tom should have been the general, and I the lieutenant.” Thomas Ward Custer,
a hero of the Union, was an extraordinary soldier, who deserves to be remembered.
I'm the History Guy, and I hope you enjoyed this edition of my series of short snippets
of forgotten history about ten minutes long. And if you did enjoy it, please go ahead and click
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